1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a tensioner for holding a mouth of a bag in an open position and, more particularly, to a tensioner that is compressible to fit within a bag and expandable to hold the mouth of the bag in an open position while the bag is being filled.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There, are numerous devices that are designed to hold the mouth of a bag in an open position. In Borland et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,123, a device for holding the mouth of a thin flexible bag open has a greater circumferential dimension at the top than at the bottom and has latching arrangements to hold the bag on the device. In the Taylor U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,858, a frame is provided to hold refuse bags in an open position where the bag is wrapped around the frame and held in place by a cord extending around the frame in a channel. The Baldonado et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,820 describes a plastic bag holding assembly that fits partially within an opening of a bag. A C-shaped resilient bag holding member is attached to a channel. The bag is placed on the ground and the channel is placed partially within the opening of the bag.
The Nelson et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,291 describes a hoop that has a variable peripheral dimension. The dimension is varied by attaching a curved portion of the loop to different locations. The Cheng U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,519 describes a frame apparatus which has clips for attaching the frame to a garbage bag. Two sides of the frame are extendable by sliding one tube within another tube with openings to adjust the length of,the two tubes. The Corsaut, III et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,348 describes a bag holder with a straight portion and two flexible plastic strips with notches to attach the bag to the holder. The intermediate portion can be attached to a wall or the device can be used on a floor or the ground. The previous devices have attachment means to attach the bag to the holding device, or the holding device does not work properly or is complex to use or too expensive.
In U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0023417 by Burns et al, there is described a device for holding a refuse bag open. The device has two ends that can fit together in an adjustable arrangement whereby the peripheral dimension of the device can be varied. The holding device is designed to be used with bags of various different sizes by adjusting the relative location of the two ends and thereby adjusting the circumference of the device. The holding device has female mating elements on one end and male mating elements on the other end and is described as being substantially planar. One of the difficulties in using the device is to affix the ends together with an appropriate circumference so that the device is small enough to fit within the bag, yet large enough to hold the bag open. The device can be placed within the bag and the attachment of the ends can then be adjusted while the device is in the bag. The holding device appears to be very heavy as there is concern about the device tipping the bag over. The holding device can be complex and difficult to use. Further, when the fasteners or the holding device become worm, or pressure is exerted on the holding device, the length of the device might adjust prematurely and the holder might fall to the bottom of the bag or become unusable.